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Lepus had always been fascinated by the talking cats known as 'Guardian Cats', but her encounters with them were few and far in between.

In her time as a senshi, Lepus could count the number of cats she had met on one hand, including Etoile, which always bugged her- if they were supposed to help senshi, then shouldn't they be, well, everywere? Well, she had Etoi now, at the very least, achieving one of her goals of owning a talking cat, a goal she had had ever since her awakening. Truth be told, as much as the little chibi would have liked to own an entire house full of Mauvians, the fact was that Etoile was tiny and portable enough to hide in her dollhouse, not to mention gluttonous enough to accept being bribed with candy.

Recently, it had been the one-year anniversary of the day Etoile came to live with Lepus. Technically, it had been a few weeks earlier, but, well, things had happened, and really, it was cheaper to celebrate when holiday candy was on clearance, right? Now if only it wasn't so freezing outside.

"We have got to seriously rethink our cold weather route," Lepus said, as the two of them walked together.

Well, speak of the devil. Bob was definitely... different from the other cats Lepus had met before- for one, he was scruffier-looking than them, and bigger in size- and maybe there was some other things off about him, too.

That said... another talking cat. That was all that mattered at the moment.

"Good thing it's just you then, huh?" Lepus told Bob; it didn't particularly bother her if people whispered about her or not...if they even saw her at all. After all, she already had a reputation among her classmates.

"We're patrolling," Lepus told Bob, happy to see that he was walking with them.

"We're also celebrating," Etoile chirped, giving Bob a curious look, "It's been one year since we met."

"I'm Chibi Lepus, by the way, and this is Etoile," Lepus introduced, "What's your name? You're the first talking cat I've met in a long time, aside from Etoi- do you want to walk with us? Though I guess you already are."

Most senshi don't last that long. Lepus caught the words Bob started to say, but didn't quite follow them.

According to who? Lepus had been around for a few years now, so either she was defying the odds, or the cat had his information wrong. In fact, she was pretty certain that the other girl Etoile had lived with had been a senshi for quite some time, as well, so it had to be more of the latter. She almost wanted to call him out on it, but Lepus didn't want to ruin the good mood currently prevailing and scare off the other cat, so instead she chose to ignore it entirely.

"Yup, it's definitely great news," she confirmed with a nod, "A year since we met and became best friends."

"Anyways, it's nice to meet you, Bob. I hope we can become good friends, too."

Fortunately for Bob, he was appealing to a cat with a sweet tooth, and a girl who would probably very seriously consider robbing a candy store if it made Etoile happy (not that she really would; jail time wasn't very appealing when she hadn't even gotten into high school yet.)

"Oh, yes, yes, sundaes sound like such a delicious idea," Etoile agreed, not that she ever wouldn't, and turned to Lepus with pleading eyes, "Can we, Lepus? Pleaaaaase?"

It was always hard to say no to Etoile in the first place, but with another Mauvian thrown into the mix, Lepus couldn't help but relent, though she would have anyway, most likely. "I guess we can," she said, pondering if she had enough for the three of them, "The weather's warm enough tonight, at least."

"It's okay, I think I have enough," Lepus said, having not really expected Bob to have any cash anyway; she knew they could magic up items from out of thin air, but she didn't think they could magic up money. "Where's the ice cream parlor you're talking about? We can go there."

It didn't particularly occur to her that Bob was just trying to get a free meal out of her, or that he was more interested in Etoile than her; to Lepus, who was determined to be Friend to All Mauvians or something, Bob was harmless enough, and she hoped to earn his friendship.

(Despite the fact that his aura was distinctly different from Etoile's.)

Lepus glanced up at the sign, squinting at it slightly as she checked to make sure that, no, there wasn't a missing 'r' in the shop name. Well, the name made it sound like the kind of shop her mom would never let her visit normally, and Lepus was all for being rebellious, and thus she took out a small wallet from the pocket of the coat she had been wearing over her fuku, walking to the door.

"Okay, three sundaes coming right up, then!" Lepus declared, as she headed to the entrance, "I'll be right back!"

And thus she headed indoors, leaving Bob and Etoile to chat with each other.

"Hmm?"

Etoile looked at Bob curiously, processing his question; why did she decide to live with Lepus?

"Well, she buys me lots of candy," the little cat mused, thinking of all the wonderful kinds of sweets she got to sample thanks to her senshi friend, "And her room is really nice... I don't think I could ever live out in the wild."

(Who else would buy her candy? Where else could she watch her favorite shows? Etoile simply could not imagine life as a stray cat.)

"So you don't have a senshi of your own, then?" she inquired, suddenly interested in knowing more about Bob himself.